1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a print control apparatus, a print control method, and a print control program for forming print data to be print-outputted by a printing apparatus having a Z-folding function and to a memory medium in which such a program has been stored.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, in printing apparatus such as printer, copying apparatus, and the like and a finishing apparatus connected to the printing apparatus, there is an apparatus having a function for folding a printed sheet into three in a Z-character shape (hereinafter, referred to as a Z-folding) (refer to U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,134).
As a function of the print control apparatus, there is an N-up function such that a plurality of logic pages (document data or the like formed by an application program or the like) are allocated onto one output sheet. The N-up function is also referred to as 2-in-1 (a process for allocating two logic pages onto one sheet), 4-in-1 (a process for allocating four logic pages onto one sheet), or the like.
When a plurality of logic pages are allocated onto one sheet, a layout is adjusted by executing a reducing process or the like so that a plurality of logic pages are enclosed onto one sheet.
In the apparatus having such functions, in the case of executing printing by using both of the Z-folding function and the N-up function, in the N-up process, the layout adjustment of the logic pages is made by uniform control irrespective of the presence or absence of the Z-folding.
However, in the present N-up process, nothing is considered to the logic page layout in the case of Z-folding the sheet on which the logic pages have been allocated by the N-up function. There is, consequently, a case where in a state where the layout-adjusted and printed output sheet has been Z-folded, a part of information of the logic pages existing on the surface of the sheet is hidden (refer to FIG. 5 of the specification of the present invention). That is, all print contents exposed on the surface of the sheet in the folded state cannot be confirmed.
In such a case, when the user confirms the information of the logic pages on the surface, it is necessary to open and see the Z-folded pages each time, so that it is tiring. Particularly, in a POD (light printing) field such that a brochure or the like is printed and formed, document data including a photograph, drawings, or the like is often used. In such a case, if the layout process is executed, the beauty of printed matter is sometimes lost.